Wang Cheng

1909

Kiangsu, China

From 1931 to 1934 he headed the First Signal Communications Branch of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army. This grew out of a small unit that Wang was ordered to establish in January 1931 with the principal task to train radio and telecommunications personnel. When originally formed the unit was stationed in Kiangsi near the Juichin headquarters and consisted of only 13 students in addition to the instructors and other personnel. Wang’s political commissar in this unit was Feng Wen-pin, one of the top youth leaders of a later date who became involved in political difficulties in the 1950's and completely disappeared from the public scene. Wang made the Long March in 1934-35, and immediately upon his arrival in northern Shensi was named director of the Third Bureau of the People's Revolutionary Military Council, the bureau in charge of communications. Other activities which engaged him in Yenan during the war years included the presidency of a school of telecommunications under the Communist Eighth Route army and the establishment of the 4tNew China, Broadcasting Station. Nothing is known of Wang’s work during the civil war with the Nationalists (1946-1949), but presumably he remained with the Army headquarters plying his valuable trade as a communications expert. In May 1949 in Peking, Wang was elected to the First National Committee of the newly formed All-China Federation of Democratic Youth; he was not, however, re-elected at the next congress in 1953. In June 1949 he was named to a committee to prepare for a large conference of scientists and science administrators (held in July 1949), which led to the formation in August 1950 of the All-China Federation of Scientific Societies. And in the early fall of 1949 he was one of the representatives from the PL A Headquarters to the first CPPCC, the first session of which brought the PRC into existence. Most significant, however, was the reaffirmation of Wang as the regime’s senior telecommunications specialist, both in the military establishment and within the government bureaucracy. In May 1949, the PLA telecommunications system was reorganized into the Telecommunications Bureau under the People’s Revolutionary Military Council (PRMC). Wang was named to head this bureau and in this capacity gave a major address before a conference on telecommunications specialists in north China in July 1949. When the first ministerial appointments were made in October 1949, he was named as the only vice-minister of the newly created Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. Inasmuch as Minister Chu Hsueh- fan was not a Party member, it is evident that Wang, in fact, held the greater political authority within the ministry. When the PRMC was reorganized in the fall of 1954, Wang was again named to direct the Communications Department, now subordinate to the PLA General Headquarters, a position he apparently still retains. Moreover, from the spring of 1957 he has served concurrently as commander of the PLA Signal Corps, another position he probably still holds. Although he is not often in the news, virtually every appearance is associated with the field of communications. In January-February 1950, for example, he gave the keynote report on tasks and duties for 1950 before a national telecommunications and postal conference. On February 24, 1950, and November 30, 1951, respectively, he reported before the Government Administration Council (the cabinet) on postal and telecommunications agreements signed with the USSR and East Germany. He received an important assignment in August 1952 when he accompanied Premier Chou En-lai to Moscow as an adviser to negotiate agreements providing for the transfer of the Chinese Changchun Railway to China and for the extension of the joint use of the naval facilities at Port Arthur. Chou returned to Peking in September 1952 but Wang remained in Moscow through the fall, apparently taking part in the highly important economic negotiations led by Li Fu-ch’un, one of Peking’s senior economic specialists. In September 1953, Wang was removed as a vice-minister of Posts and Telecommunications. Apparently this move was made to allow him more time within the military establishment, it was almost three years before he would hold another civilian post. In 1955 military honors and personal military ranks were awarded for past services; the three orders (August First, Independence and Freedom, and Liberation) covered the period from the late 1920’s to 1950. Wang received the first and last awards, but rather oddly was not given the award for service during the Sino-Japanese War, even though he unquestionably served in a rather high position with the Eighth Route Army during that period. At about this same time (September 1955) he was also given the rank of Lieutenant General (equivalent to a two-star general in the U.S. Army). As the 1950’s wore on, a number of learned and professional societies were organized to reflect the growing complexities of the Chinese Communist scientific community. One such organization was the China Electronics Society, for which a Preparatory Committee was established in June 1956, with Wang as the chairman. He held this until 1961 when a fellow telecommunications specialist and long-time colleague, Wang Tzu-kang, assumed the position. A year later (May 1957) Wang Cheng was named to membership on the Scientific Planning Commission under the State Council, a post he held until this body was completely reorganized in November 1958. It was at approximately the same time, as already noted, that Wang was first identified as the commander of the PLA Signal Corps (April 1957). From 1959 to 1964 he served as a PLA Headquarters deputy to the Second NPC but was changed to the Heilungkiang constituency for the Third NPC, which held its first session in December 1964-January 1965. In May of 1963, Wang received an important and, by this time, predictable assignment. The State Council created a new ministry with the title Fourth Ministry of Machine Building. Wang was named as minister, and although no information has been released about its functions, it is clear from the past experience of Wang (as well as of colleagues within the ministry) that it is concerned with the manufacture of electronics equipment. Then, at the close of the first session of the Third NPC in January 1965, he was named to membership on the slightly expanded National Defense Council, a military organization with very limited authority but with considerable prestige. It was in his capacity as minister of the Fourth Ministry of Machine Building that Wang led a government delegation to East Germany in February-March 1965 for the annual Leipzig International Trade Fair at which the Chinese had one of the largest pavilions.

Wang Cheng

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minister politician CCP member

Background

Wang Cheng was born about 1909 in Kiangsu.

Education

He attended a middle school in that province where he studied mechanical engineering. In 1928 he entered a school for technicians sponsored by the Nationalist government. Then only about 19, he specialized in telecommunications. After about a year there he was assigned to the Nationalist Army (the 18th Division) and participated in one of the “annihilation” campaigns against the Communists in the Kiangsi-Fukien area.

Career

From 1931 to 1934 he headed the First Signal Communications Branch of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army. This grew out of a small unit that Wang was ordered to establish in January 1931 with the principal task to train radio and telecommunications personnel. When originally formed the unit was stationed in Kiangsi near the Juichin headquarters and consisted of only 13 students in addition to the instructors and other personnel. Wang’s political commissar in this unit was Feng Wen-pin, one of the top youth leaders of a later date who became involved in political difficulties in the 1950's and completely disappeared from the public scene.

Wang made the Long March in 1934-35, and immediately upon his arrival in northern Shensi was named director of the Third Bureau of the People's Revolutionary Military Council, the bureau in charge of communications. Other activities which engaged him in Yenan during the war years included the presidency of a school of telecommunications under the Communist Eighth Route army and the establishment of the 4tNew China, Broadcasting Station. Nothing is known of Wang’s work during the civil war with the Nationalists (1946-1949), but presumably he remained with the Army headquarters plying his valuable trade as a communications expert.

In May 1949 in Peking, Wang was elected to the First National Committee of the newly formed All-China Federation of Democratic Youth; he was not, however, re-elected at the next congress in 1953. In June 1949 he was named to a committee to prepare for a large conference of scientists and science administrators (held in July 1949), which led to the formation in August 1950 of the All-China Federation of Scientific Societies. And in the early fall of 1949 he was one of the representatives from the PL A Headquarters to the first CPPCC, the first session of which brought the PRC into existence. Most significant, however, was the reaffirmation of Wang as the regime’s senior telecommunications specialist, both in the military establishment and within the government bureaucracy. In May 1949, the PLA telecommunications system was reorganized into the Telecommunications Bureau under the People’s Revolutionary Military Council (PRMC). Wang was named to head this bureau and in this capacity gave a major address before a conference on telecommunications specialists in north China in July 1949. When the first ministerial appointments were made in October 1949, he was named as the only vice-minister of the newly created Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. Inasmuch as Minister Chu Hsueh- fan was not a Party member, it is evident that Wang, in fact, held the greater political authority within the ministry.

When the PRMC was reorganized in the fall of 1954, Wang was again named to direct the Communications Department, now subordinate to the PLA General Headquarters, a position he apparently still retains. Moreover, from the spring of 1957 he has served concurrently as commander of the PLA Signal Corps, another position he probably still holds. Although he is not often in the news, virtually every appearance is associated with the field of communications. In January-February 1950, for example, he gave the keynote report on tasks and duties for 1950 before a national telecommunications and postal conference. On February 24, 1950, and November 30, 1951, respectively, he reported before the Government Administration Council (the cabinet) on postal and telecommunications agreements signed with the USSR and East Germany. He received an important assignment in August 1952 when he accompanied Premier Chou En-lai to Moscow as an adviser to negotiate agreements providing for the transfer of the Chinese Changchun Railway to China and for the extension of the joint use of the naval facilities at Port Arthur. Chou returned to Peking in September 1952 but Wang remained in Moscow through the fall, apparently taking part in the highly important economic negotiations led by Li Fu-ch’un, one of Peking’s senior economic specialists.

In September 1953, Wang was removed as a vice-minister of Posts and Telecommunications. Apparently this move was made to allow him more time within the military establishment, it was almost three years before he would hold another civilian post. In 1955 military honors and personal military ranks were awarded for past services; the three orders (August First, Independence and Freedom, and Liberation) covered the period from the late 1920’s to 1950. Wang received the first and last awards, but rather oddly was not given the award for service during the Sino-Japanese War, even though he unquestionably served in a rather high position with the Eighth Route Army during that period. At about this same time (September 1955) he was also given the rank of Lieutenant General (equivalent to a two-star general in the U.S. Army).

As the 1950’s wore on, a number of learned and professional societies were organized to reflect the growing complexities of the Chinese Communist scientific community. One such organization was the China Electronics Society, for which a Preparatory Committee was established in June 1956, with Wang as the chairman. He held this until 1961 when a fellow telecommunications specialist and long-time colleague, Wang Tzu-kang, assumed the position. A year later (May 1957) Wang Cheng was named to membership on the Scientific Planning Commission under the State Council, a post he held until this body was completely reorganized in November 1958. It was at approximately the same time, as already noted, that Wang was first identified as the commander of the PLA Signal Corps (April 1957). From 1959 to 1964 he served as a PLA Headquarters deputy to the Second NPC but was changed to the Heilungkiang constituency for the Third NPC, which held its first session in December 1964-January 1965.

In May of 1963, Wang received an important and, by this time, predictable assignment. The State Council created a new ministry with the title Fourth Ministry of Machine Building. Wang was named as minister, and although no information has been released about its functions, it is clear from the past experience of Wang (as well as of colleagues within the ministry) that it is concerned with the manufacture of electronics equipment. Then, at the close of the first session of the Third NPC in January 1965, he was named to membership on the slightly expanded National Defense Council, a military organization with very limited authority but with considerable prestige. It was in his capacity as minister of the Fourth Ministry of Machine Building that Wang led a government delegation to East Germany in February-March 1965 for the annual Leipzig International Trade Fair at which the Chinese had one of the largest pavilions.

Politics

In 1930 he was captured by the Communists in battle and was immediately assigned to his specialized work at the Red Army Headquarters. He was also allowed to join the Communist Party at about this time, possibly because oi' his special skills, which were sorely needed by the Communists.

Personality

Wang Cheng is one of those exceptional leaders who seem to have been shielded from the heavy protocol duties which consume so much of the time of so many Chinese Communist leaders. Apparently this has been necessitated by the need to exploit his skills. He is one of the very few leaders with both technical training and extensive experience in a highly specialized field. For Wang this situation is all the more burdensome because he is saddled with important responsibilities in both the military establishment and the civilian government.

Connections

Little is known of his personal life aside from the fact that in 1946 he was the father of a child about two years of age.

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Wang Cheng

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1949

1949

September, 1953

January, 1965